WVU’s Darian DeVries Emerges as Among Top Candidates for Indiana

Rumors continue to swirl about WVU basketball head coach Darian DeVries and his job status this hiring cycle.

After being brought up in conversations about the vacancy at Iowa in recent days, Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 reported Tuesday that DeVries is a candidate for the opening at Indiana.

West Virginia's Darian DeVries has emerged as one of – if not the top candidate for the Indiana job – source told @TheFieldOf68.

I'm told by sources that nothing is done yet, but that DeVries could wind up being the guy. Drake's Ben McCollum and a third "mystery" candidate…

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 18, 2025

Mike Woodson stepped down as Indiana’s coach following the season after four years leading the Hoosiers. IU went 19-13 this season and is one of several teams that felt they got snubbed from the NCAA Tournament, like West Virginia.

Goodman lists DeVries and Ben McCollum as candidates for the Indiana job, alongside a third mystery candidate. McCollum replaced DeVries at Drake when DeVries took the WVU job last offseason. He led the Bulldogs to a 30-3 record this season and they are a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

With West Virginia’s season abruptly over after being left out of the NCAA Tournament, fans are left speculating about the future of the program, namely if head coach Darian DeVries will return to WVU or pursue another opportunity. Knowing the questions surrounding the program, WVU director of athletics Wren Baker appeared on the West Virginia Metro News Sportsline on Monday night to offer his own opinion on the matter.

“I’m just very open and honest with our coaches. I’ve ran searches before and I would say that less than 10% of what you read and speculation that you hear is true. Social media and message boards have certainly created a lot of awareness and attention. There’s some positives with that, but there are also some negatives,” responded Baker when asked about the rumors concerning DeVries, many of which started at the beginning of the season before any other job was even close to being open.

“There’s not a lot of fact-checking that goes on. I’ve been on both sides of this before where you’re having a season where you aren’t having a great season and have to make some hard decisions and I’ve had seasons where you have a good season and other programs are coming for your coaches.”

For a related story, national analyst compares WVU job to Iowa in midst of Darian DeVries rumors.